CGD

We at the Czech Grand Design jury always appreciate when the finals feature innovative projects for the government sector. Last year it was the impressive and contemporary spin on traditional design made for the State Printing Works of Securities (STC). The founding of this state enterprise is linked to the birth of the Czechoslovak state, and for 95 years it has been producing bank notes, securities and other important state documents. The visual identity concept of the 20YY Designers team won in a closed competition organized by the Czechdesign organization.

“We understood that our visual identity was not up to par for a modern enterprise and that it felt confusing and outdated. One of the objectives of our strategy was that we wanted to be perceived as a modern company which, apart from traditional polygraphy, also provides and develops digital services – not many people think about that when they hear ‘State Printing Works of Securities.’ We want to present ourselves as a modern company, a reliable business partner and finally as an attractive employer. And we believe that with 20YY Designers we achieved just that,” says STC’s Managing Director Tomáš Habelka.

20YY Designers designed a visual system for STC which effectively works with the state enterprise’s original symbol. A woman’s head wearing a Phrygian cap became the main motif for the new visual identity and received a makeover through digital media and animation. As notes one of the new identity’s architects Adam Macháček, the head is stylized into a colored, dotted raster reminiscent of a print point, thus alluding to the traditional print craft, as well as representing a digital point – a pixel or a drop of color. The traditional symbol rendered in a contemporary style is made complete by the debuting Clin font – an original sans serif designed by the Heavyweight Type studio from Czechia. The STC’s new visual identity is exciting because it uses innovative means to connect tradition with the present – it does not bring revolution, but rather sophisticated evolution which respects the company’s historical legacy and its further development.

Kateřina Přidalová